I think we are seeing two simultaneous realignments around class and inequality. One is the have-somes and the have-a-littles against the have-a-lots; the other is the have-less-than-they’d-expecteds against the have-nots. The former is fueling the rise of economic populism on the left; the latter involves people trying to hold on to the government benefits they “earned” against people making “unearned” claims on government. [ . . . ]
One of these two realignments is reshaping presidential politics. The other is reshaping congressional and state-level politics. This disjuncture is partly a question of institutions—gerrymandering and the like. But it’s also a question of political engagement. Fifty-eight percent of eligible voters voted in the 2012 presidential election; 36% voted in the 2014 congressional elections, leading to an overrepresentation of conservative-leaning constituencies.
So I think that, while the public as a whole might be moving to the left, American politics is moving in two directions simultaneously. The system as a whole will move left only if a lot more people—millennials, new Americans—get involved in non-presidential politics and build new institutions capable of sustaining more robust political engagement.
